Concrete Angel
by natalie180
Summary: ***Chpt. 4 Up - A Chapter That Changes Everything*** When a new girl comes on the scene, who is she and how will she change Alec and Max’s lives? M/A
1. Chapter 1

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Title: Concrete Angel

Author: natalie180

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Rating: PG (may change – we'll see…)

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Show: Dark Angel

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Pairing: M/A

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Type: wip

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Summary: When someone new comes on the scene, how will she change Alec and 

Max's lives?

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Thank you to my super beta SpoiledLilAmy!

Author's Note: Hi guys. This is my first fanfic, though not my first piece of writing. I'll try to update this fic as often as I can, but no guarantees on express delivery! Thanks for reading J 

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Author's Note 2: The title Concrete Angel isn't some lame take off on Dark Angel. It's the title of a gorgeous song that I really wanted to include with this fic. Ok… on to the story!

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Chapter One

"Through the wind and the rain

She stands hard as a stone

In her world she can't rise above.

But her dreams give her wings

And she flies to a place where she's loved.

Concrete angel."

Song "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride

My feet hit the pavement over and over again, their incessant pounding resonating through my body and ringing in my ears. I turn a corner, barely slowing my grueling pace, yet completely in control. I continue to run through the abandoned, early morning streets. I'm not being chased and I'm not running away from my life. At least not anymore. Now, I run for pleasure, to find comfort, calm and sanity. But, like I said, it wasn't always like this, and although it was a long time ago, it all seems as if it happened yesterday.

************

Alec wandered aimlessly, searching the street signs as if he was actually interested, which of course was not at all the case. He was lonely and bored, just like every other Saturday afternoon when there was so much to do and no one to do it for. He and Max had had another argument the day before. It was about Logan; their arguments always were. After a heated conversation about why Logan had to be in Terminal City and why he had to involve himself in the transgenic affairs, Alec just lost it.

**** __

Flashback

"You don't understand my relationship with Logan!" Max said defensively.

"Neither does anyone else! No one can understand what you see in him! When will you be able to see that there's nothing between you two. It's just an illusion, Max, just something you've made up to pretend that you're happy. But anyone with one eye and a half a brain can tell that you're miserable. When will you be able to see that, too?" Alec countered.

__

End Flashback

Alec was done with Max's ignorance, with her inability to see what was plain in front of her. Alec had stormed out of Terminal City, leaving Max in a state of pained shock. He had simply felt the need to get away from her for a while. He had wandered the streets of Seattle throughout the night and had ended up half way across the city by the next afternoon.

Pulled from his tumultuous thoughts by a large neon sign, Alec looked up. The sign read that Alleycatz Bar was now open. Alec decided that drowning his thoughts in alcohol was far better then ruminating in them, so he entered the smoky little bar. Though he could never get completely drunk, alcohol had a way of numbing Alec, and he hoped that this time it would be able to make him forget what he had done to Max. The bar was nearly empty, except for the bartender and one lone patron who was sitting at a secluded table. Alec sat down on a stool at the counter and ordered a scotch. The bartender studied him for a minute after having handed him his drink.

"So, tell me, what makes you drink scotch at two in the afternoon?" she asked. When this question elicited no reply from Alec, she pressed on.

"Let me guess: girlfriend problems, girlfriend problems, or… girlfriend problems?" she said. When Alec said nothing in return the bartender continued "Well, at least I tried. I guess it'll just remain a mystery then" the bartender said as she moved away from the counter. Alec suddenly felt the urge to look up at the person who was facing him, and when he did, he was struck by her eyes. The were an intensely dark brown colour that held a piercing gaze with his.

"Alec. My name's Alec"

"Wow! He talks. My name's Marina" the bartender answered. After further study of Marina, Alec commented.

"Aren't you a little young to be working in a bar?" It was true, Marina had a small frame, dainty features and an innocent smile.

"I don't work here too often, only covering for a friend who's sick today. When she called me, she was all sniffley and stuffed up, so I took pity on her," she replied, then looked away.

"You're being evasive."

"You were too."

"Why are you avoiding my question?"

"Why are you prying?"

"Do I need a reason?"

"No."

After a tension filled pause,

"So?" Alec asked.

With a small chuckle, Marina answered.

"My nineteenth birthday was three days ago." She paused, then quickly added "And the only reason I'm telling you this is because you look too pathetic to turn me in."

Neither of them noticed when the other customer walked calmly out of the building. And neither realized that the building was being watched. So Alec had a rude awakening when a group of large men hurled themselves through the back door and stormed the bar. Alec was about to act, but he saw that Marina was already half way across the room and nearly on top of the group. The next few moments went by too fast for Alec to even register what was happening: Marina took out every last man, with their military issue gear and guns, in less than ninety seconds, without a scratch to herself, Alec or the bar. Not so much could be said for the men lying on the floor in multiple states of unconsciousness.

Marina turned around slowly to face a visible confused Alec. She moved some wayward strands of hair from her eyes and sheepishly said,

"Never underestimate the power of adrenaline."

Alec stood up and moved toward Marina, ready at any moment to fight. Looking at her closely, he asked,

"How did you do that?"

"Took martial arts as a kid. Guess it paid off, huh?"

"No." Alec said, shaking his head. "I've never seen anything like that, anyone move like that. What are you? A Familiar?" Alec was becoming increasingly wary of Marina and her abilities.

"A what? What are you talking about? No more scotch for you, buddy." Marina replied, as she took a step forward. Alec decided to take control of the situation and he blurred forward, pinning Marina against the nearest wall.

"I said, what are you?" Alec asked again, slowly losing his patience with the girl. Then it dawned on him. "What series are you?"

"Again, what the hell are you talking about?" she asked, her composure beginning to slip. While Alec pinned both of her wrists at her side, he moved the hair off her neck to expose, nothing else, but a barcode.

"I'm X5" he said quietly.

"X6" she replied, equally tentatively.

"So…" Alec said, stepping away from Marina and the wall. She turned to face him.

"So…"

"Um… I know this is the time in a family reunion where we hug and cry and tell each other how great it is to see each other after so many years, but since I just met you all of ten minutes ago, I guess we'll just skip that part. Uh… you should probably lay low, go home. Whoever that was" motioning to the motionless bodies on the ground "will probably be back for more fun."

"This is home. I live upstairs."

"Well then, I guess you could stay with me for a while."

"Uh… ok. But only if you're sure." Marina continued after Alec nodded. "Just let me get a few of my things. I'll be right back." With that, she dashed upstairs.

Alec turned around and looked out the front door. "Max would be so proud that I'm following in her footsteps, looking out for one of my own…" he mumbled.

******

I'd love it if you'd review: makes me feel good J 


	2. Chapter 2

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Title: Concrete Angel

Author: natalie180

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Rating: PG (may change – we'll see…)

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Show: Dark Angel

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Pairing: M/A

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Type: wip

****

Summary: When someone new comes on the scene, how will she change Alec and 

Max's lives?

****

Thanks again to my beta SpoiledLilAmy - you're my best fan J 

Author's Note: When I wrote this my muse just happened to be with me. Usually I take a while to write though so don't get you're hopes up about super speedy updating.

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Chapter Two

Alec took Marina to the only safe place he knew: Terminal City. So it wasn't a resort or a spa - hell, it barely had hot running water - but it was the place he called home. Alec hadn't wanted to go back to Terminal City so soon. Now he would be forced to confront Max, something he wasn't looking forward to doing. Truth was, he felt guilty and ashamed for blowing up at Max; while she had the uncanny ability to be stubborn, close minded and naïve, she didn't deserve to be yelled at. Alec just hopped that he hadn't ruined their friendship, which, as of late, was on the rocks.

"Hate to pull you from what I'm sure are really interesting thoughts, but we've been standing in front of this door for nearly five minutes now and you haven't moved. Are you ok?" Marina asked.

Alec looked around him. Sure enough, he was in Terminal City, stopped in front of his apartment. Apparently, his body had been on auto-pilot, and, while he had been lost in his thoughts, Alec had managed to get home.

"Yeah… sorry," Alec mumbled as he unlocked and opened the door. Marina entered, dropped her bag on the floor and went to a window overlooking the street.

"So this is Terminal City, huh? I'd read about it in the newspapers. Sounds like a good idea, having the transgenics together, and all." Marina said. Alec said nothing in response, but moved to sit on the couch.

"Do you mind me asking something?" Marina asked, and without waiting for a response she continued "If you're always this chatty, how you have friends?"

"I've found that when I talk, I end up losing friends. Keeping my mouth shut keeps me out of trouble," Alec answered simply.

"Insightful."

"My words of wisdom for the day." Alec replied. After a pause, Marina spoke.

"Look, Alec, I barely know you, but I do have a pretty good way of understanding people." Alec looked at her skeptically, but she continued. "You've obviously got some stuff you need to figure out. So I'm gonna go and explore this place and leave you to… do whatever it is you've gotta do." And with that she slipped out the front door; Alec listened to her retreating steps down the hall. He closed his eyes and rubbed them with the palms of his hands as leaned his head back onto the couch and considered what he should do next.

******

When Marina reached the bottom of the stairwell, she found herself in a large room, bustling with people, a place which she guessed was the city's headquarters. She walked around, intrigued with the constant movement and noise. This is the kind of place in which she like to be: a place with a lot of busy people minding their own business, a place where she could disappear and become one of the masses.

She walked around, carefully observing each person she came across. There were nearly as many transhumans in the room as there were X series, and as she scanned the crowd, she recognized some of them from her childhood at Manticore. Suddenly, Marina felt someone close behind her and she turned around abruptly to see who it was.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to notice me."

"Jake!" Marina exclaimed as she jumped up to hug him. He was somewhat taller then she, and looked maybe a few years older. "How did you get here?"

"Well, when I came back from that last solo mission, I found ashes where Manticore used to be and headed out to the closest city. After searching around for a while, I ended up here a couple of days ago still trying to find you." Jake answered.

"You found me," Marina smiled.

"You know, you could have tried contacting me when I was away; you knew where I was. Or better yet, you could have tried to find me once you were out. Any other boyfriend would have dumped you by now, Ina" Jake said, a grin playing on his lips. 

"Yeah, I could have. Guess I'm lucky you don't give up easily" Marina said playfully, kissing Jake to prove that she was joking.

"Worth the wait," he replied laughing.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by Alec's voice.

"Hey, Jake, how do you know Marina?" he asked. Alec had met Jake several days before and he already liked the witty X6; Jake reminded Alec of himself when he was in his late teens. 

"I was a CO back at Manticore and Ina was transferred to my unit two years ago or so. What can I say, Alec? She fell for my charm," Jake replied with a laugh. Marina just rolled her eyes, still smiling. Marina's response made Alec remember Max; come to think of it, they were pretty similar. Alec decided that Marina was like Max in a lot of ways, but that she allowed her sweet side to come through every once and a while.

"Commanding Officer, huh? Nicely done," Alec said impressed. "Jake, how old are you again?"

"Nineteen."

"Oh, so you and Marina are the same age," Alec noted, pointing at the couple.

"Actually, Ina's a little - " Jake began but was abruptly cut off by Marina.

"Yup. Jake and I, nineteen, both of us," she said a little to quickly to be believable. Jake just looked at her and laughed; his adoring girlfriend promptly elbowed him in the ribs. Alec looked skeptically at Marina and asked,

"Alright, how old are you really?"

Marina looked sheepishly at Alec and replied,

"Take the nine in nineteen and flip it around."

"You're sixteen!" Alec said, a little surprised that he had been suckered into believing that she was older. He must really have been out of it when they first met.

"You must have excelled in math, huh?" Marina replied, sarcasm dripping from her words. Before Alec had the chance to reply with a comeback, Jake and Marina were being called to the other side of the room by what Alec assumed where old unit members.

"I should go say hi… haven't seen them in a while," Marina told Alec.

"Sure, go ahead. You know where to find me if you need me, guys" Alec replied. With that, Marina went running over to her friends with Jake in tow. Alec turned around and was going to walk to his office when he saw Max looking straight at him from the table where she and Logan were going over some papers. He looked down, hopping that she would look away, but when he raised his eyes again, her eyes were still locked with his. Alec gave a small, tentative smile and continued to his office. He simply wasn't prepared to talk with Max yet. He didn't know whether to apologize or to stand his ground. He didn't know what how she would act either, what she would say to him.

******

"I've been watching you for a while now and I noticed that you haven't moved your eyes from that computer screen the whole time," Marina stated.

"Yeah," replied Dix.

"Dedicated to your work, huh?"

"You could say that."

Marina gave up her fruitless attempts at small talk with Dix and got right to the point.

"Well… I was hoping that you could find out something for me. I'd really like to see my Manticore file and I figured that since you're the computer guy 'round here you could help me out."

"You actually _want_ to revisit the skeletons in the closet?" Dix inquired as he pried his look of the monitor and onto the person he was talking to.

"Not revisit, put to rest. You think you could help me out?"

"Uh… sure. Shouldn't be too hard to hack into the Manticore files and pull up yours."

"Great!" Marina replied, genuinely happy that she would finally be able to check out her file. 'See what Manticore _really_ thought of me,' she decided. And with that Marina explained to Dix what to look for.

******

Max moved softly toward Alec's half-open office door. Even though she had carefully thought through each of the words he had told her the day before, and had reluctantly accepted that there was at least a shade of truth to what he had said, Max was still unsure as to whether she was ready to talk to Alec yet. She positioned her head at the door's opening so that she could just see inside the room. Alec was at his desk reading over paperwork that has accumulated over the last few days. She lightly pushed the door farther open with her foot and ventured a timid "Hey". Alec simply replied by looking up at the woman in front of him. Max slowly entered the room and closed the door behind her. After facing Alec again, Max's finger played with the rim of her mug of tea.

"So…" Alec began.

"So…" Max murmured back, mirroring Alec's careful tone, testing the waters.

"You know, you don't have to pretend to be civil with me. Yell, scream, whatever you want Max. You don't need to pretend like you're not angry with me," Alec said, forcing himself to appear calm. He felt that if Max took her anger out on him, it would help to get them both back into their love-to-hate-you relationship. The last thing he wanted was to fall back into that masochistic and idiotic groove, but he figured that Max's behaviour would at least be predictable and somewhat bearable. Better than nothing, he decided.

Max flinched nearly imperceptibly at Alec's last words, but continued to stare into the black depths of her mug, as though the tea leaves would be able to explain her future.

"I'm not pretending," Max slowly said. After a pause she continued, looking up at Alec to read his reaction. "After we… talked, I did a lot of thinking. You weren't so off, Alec. I'm not happy… I actually don't think I've ever been more miserable. I'm just… confused… about everything."

Alec was about to interrupt her, but Max continued, looking back down at her hands. 

"I know there's nothing left between Logan and I. I think I've know that for a while now, I just needed to acknowledge it. I'm lost with what's next." Max looked up at Alec before completing what was most likely the hardest admission she had ever made. "One thing's sure, though. Logan's gone tomorrow morning. I told him that he would have to leave Terminal City. No lies, Alec, no tricks this time… just the truth." Max turned slowly towards the door, her emotionless face concealing the mixed feelings that she felt so intensely.

Alec watched Max's retreating form as she left his office. Never in a million years could he have foreseen that happening. And Max thought that she was the confused one…

******

Again with the reviewing - thanks a million.


	3. Chapter 3

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Title: Concrete Angel

Author: natalie180

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Rating: PG (may change – we'll see…)

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Show: Dark Angel

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Pairing: M/A

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Type: wip

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Summary: When a new girl comes on the scene, who is she and how will she change Alec and 

Max's lives?

****

Thanks again to my beta SpoiledLilAmy - you're my best fan J

Author's Note: When I wrote this my muse just happened to be with me. Usually I take a while to write though so don't get you're hopes up about super speedy updating.

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Chapter Three

Marina put a pint of chocolate swirl ice-cream and a spoon on the coffee table and plopped herself down on Alec's couch. Alec had work to do at Headquarters that afternoon, so Marina had the place to herself. Dix had managed to find her Manticore file in only three days, but it had taken Marina three more to get up the nerve to open it. She had just been eyeing the file one more time, contemplating whether it was worth revisiting her past in order to find some sort of completion, and maybe even a better understanding of herself. Underneath the sometimes abrasive, and always sarcastic exterior, a little girl was still present within Marina, and that child felt very vulnerable when she stared down at the dossier sitting in her lap. With a reluctant sigh, Marina closed her eyes and opened the package to a page somewhere near the middle of the file labeled 'X6 – 972'.

'Mission 2019 – DC1

First Attempt At Deep Cover Assignment

Objective:(i) Join G. Puccelino's social circle;

(ii) Retrieve specified computer data;

(iii) Eliminate target.'

Those last two words were the hardest for Marina to read, but she continued to read down the page, which listed the mission's particulars and her performance. As she flipped through the following pages, Marina found more of the same: more missions, more performance evaluations, more assassinations. Assassinate. It was what she was trained to do. It was her job. And by looking at the pages Marina held between two slightly shaky hands, she had been very good at her job.

Marina noticed that the first page of the dossier was blank, except for her designation and one lone word typed in bold. 'Elite'. "Elite what?" she wanted to yell to no one in particular. Throughout her days at Manticore, Marina had been told on numerous occasions that she was better than the rest of the X6 soldiers. They never told her why or how she was better, they just left it at a simple "better". "Typical," she thought.

When Marina was thirteen years old, she had overheard a discussion between two high ranking scientists regarding a soldier dubbed 'Perfection'. Intrigued, Marina stayed to listen. As it turned out, she, X6 – 972, one of the youngest X6s, with the smart mouth and high voltage attitude, was 'Perfection'. Not only was she supposedly perfect, but now Marina was also 'Elite'. As she sat there, alone on a sunken-in couch with her life story in her hands, Marina had only one thought:

"What the Hell kind of messed up game is my life?"

******

After revisiting the greater part of her Manticore years, Marina was becoming stir crazy. Deciding that she could deal the rest of her past another time, she closed up the dossier and put it back onto the coffee table next to the half-eaten, half-melted ice cream. Marina had taken up running to ease the jitters years ago while she was still at Manticore, but her love of running never left her after the place burnt down. Again and again, she would feel the intense urge to simply run away, to nowhere in particular, with no plan and no destination. To Marina, running was the epitome of freedom.

On her way out of the building, Marina entered Headquarters and stopped to tie the laces on her athletic shoes. She looked up and quickly spotted Max and Alec, both stooped seriously over a table, going over piles of papers. Marina smiled as she moved over to the two plotting soldiers. It was so obvious that those two were meant to be together. Everyone could so obviously see it in the way they treated each other: the playful banter, the way Max hit Alec when her actions were completely unprovoked just so that she could touch him. Those two were the only ones who didn't see it. Marina and the her other unit-mates even had a bet running as to when Max and Alec would finally get together. Marina had placed quite a bit of money on the month of May and, since it was still only October, she was counting on the couple's constant denial of their true feelings to get them through the winter months.

"Hey Alec," Marina said when she got close enough.

"Oh, hey Ina," Alec said, turning around to face Marina. Over the past days, Marina and Alec had actually become quite close. Marina had volunteered to find her own apartment in Terminal City, but Alec always replied that he didn't mind her being around. Truth be told, they both quite enjoyed each other's easy company. "How was the reading?" Alec continued, knowing very well how Marina had spent the past hour.

"One thing's for sure: it's a page turner," Marina said with an intentionally and obviously fake smile plastered on her face.

Throughout the duration of this short exchange, Max just stood there, looking at Marina, taking in the way Alec talked to her. He was calm and concerned, and seemed very comfortable around the other girl; it was nearly as though the two were in on some kind of secret. Max couldn't believe that she actually felt a twinge of intimidation when up against this new girl. 'Up against her for what?' she asked herself, knowing full well the answer.

"Hi. Name's Max," she abruptly turned to Marina. Her tone was curt and verging on being outright rude.

"Hey. I'm Marina," she replied. "It's nice to finally meet our infamous leader," Marina continued with a genuinely happy smile and a small chuckle.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Max countered defensively.

"Nothing, nothing. I was… just kidding," Marina said, a little thrown off. Apparently, some people failed to appreciate her sarcasm. Trying to avoid a situation which was sure to escalate from bad to worse, Marina decided she should remove herself from the scene.

"I should let you guys get back to your work, but I'll see you 'round," she said. "Nice meeting you Max. Later Alec," she continued as she turned away and walked out the front door and into the brisk morning air.

Alec looked at Max, who was staring down Marina's retreating form with a death glare. He didn't want to figure out what was up with Max's behaviour, so he chalked it up as one of those unexplainable mysteries of transgenic life.

"So, Alec… " Max began. "You into younger girls now? What was she… like twelve years old."

"Sure Max," he just laughed, slightly amused by her silly accusation.

"No, I'm serious. Just make sure she's legal 'fore you go and do something she could sue you for. I don't feel like breaking you out of jail again."

"Max, come on!" Alec said, having lost his patience and humour. "One: she's sixteen, and do you really think I'd do that? And two: she has a boyfriend, and one thing you've gotta give me is the fact that I don't steal other guys' girls. We'll finish this work later," he said, and walked away. He knew that their relationship had always been a beat-up-on-Alec kind of thing for Max, but he was tired of her low blows.

Max turned her expressionless face back to her papers with a sigh. She didn't know why she said those sort of things to Alec, why she let stupid things slip out of her mouth before she could control them. There was just something about Marina that bothered her. Maybe it was the kind of comfortable relationship the girl had with Alec after having only known him for a week. Maybe it was the fact that they lived in the same apartment. Maybe it was the fact that Marina vaguely resembled Max since they shared many physical traits. "What does Marina mean to Alec? Is she like a replacement for me… the next best thing?" Max wondered. She didn't know what it was exactly that made her react so immaturely and irrationally to Marina. Whatever it was, Max silently cursed herself for reacting the way she had. She figured that with this last outburst she had probably thrown the her and Alec's relationship, which was already balancing on the rocks, straight out into the ocean's destructive current. She sure had a way of screwing up the best things in her life.

******

Please review - I absolutely crave reviews since they keep me writing J 


	4. Chapter 4

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Title: Concrete Angel

Author: natalie180

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Rating: PG (may change – we'll see…)

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Show: Dark Angel

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Pairing: M/A

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Type: wip

****

Summary: When a new girl comes on the scene, who is she and how will she change Alec and 

Max's lives?

****

Thanks again to my beta SpoiledLilAmy - you're my best fan 

Thanks to all my reviewers - you make me smile

Author's Note: When I wrote this my muse just happened to be with me. Usually I take a while to write though so don't get you're hopes up about super speedy updating.

****

Chapter Four

Jake was waiting for Marina, who was yelling a story into the apartment's living room through her closed bedroom door. They were going out of TC that night to explore some of Seattle, maybe even cave into the temptation of doing a little breaking breaking and entering and entering. They figured they had been deprived of weekly allowances for long enough that they deserved some pocket money to make up for those years of lost income. Jake was slowly pacing the living room, mindlessly grunting sporadic uh-huhs in response to Marina's story. He stopped his pacing next to the coffee table when he spotted something with Marina's designation written on it. She had always hated being called by her designation, and had insisted that the other soldiers at Manticore call her by her name. Jake picked up what he was to learn was Marina's Manticore file and flipped to the first page. It recorded Marina's existence before her birth: name of her surrogate, technicians who created her, maternal and paternal DNA donors… Jake's eyes widened.

"Oh God," he whispered.

Suddenly, Marina emerged from her room, scrunching her just washed hair in an unsuccessful attempt at making waves into curls. She continued with her story until she saw the look of utter shock on her boyfriend's face.

"Hey, what's wrong Jake?" Marina said, concern showing in her voice. Jake momentarily stumbled over incoherent words until he looked up at Marina and simply said,

"Have you looked at this thing yet?"

"Yeah, some of it. Couldn't take too much at a time though," she replied.

"Uh… have you taken a look at the first page?" Jake continued shakily.

"Um, don't think so. Why? Please tell me is says I'm an alien… preferably from the planet Krypton," Marina said laughing. She wondered why Jake was making such a big deal out of her file.

"I wouldn't laugh about this Ina. Here, read this," he said as he passed Marina the file, open at the first page. Marina quickly read down the page until her eyes were caught by two lines of particularly familiar numbers.

"Oh God," she said as she collapsed on the couch. "Oh God, oh God, oh God," she repeated, cradling her head in her hands. As Jake sat next to her and pulled her close to him in an attempt to comfort her, he muttered,

"Oh God is right."

******

Alec sat in his office, feet on his desk, swiveling right, left, right, left on the chair. He was thinking about his life in general, but those sorts of thoughts usually led to thoughts of Max. Alec knew what he felt for Max, what he had felt for her since the day he had set eyes on her. He resisted giving his emotions a name for two reasons, though. For him, love led to death, pain and destruction, and the wounds left from Rachel's ordeal were still raw even years later. Also, he didn't want to qualify his feelings unless he knew that Max shared them. So, instead of doing something productive with himself, Alec stayed in his office, turning back and forth on his chair.

What seemed now like ages ago, Max had admitted to Alec and herself that there was nothing left between her and Logan. She had also admitted that she didn't know what was to come next. But Alec knew: he was supposed to be the one in her life.

Suddenly, Alec got up and walked into the Headquarter's main room. His eyes scanned the dwindling crowd, most of whom were leaving for the evening. When he spotted Max, he quickly walked over to her and said,

"Max. Can we talk?"

"Uh… sure," she replied unenthusiastically. She knew what the topic of conversation would be and she had been trying to avoid this discussion, figuring that Alec would never bring it up himself. But now he had, and Max would have to talk.

Once they had moved to a quiet part of the room, Alec began,

"I figure that this'll be easier if we just skip the small talk and cut to the chase."

"Yeah."

"All right… you know how the other day, when we were talking about Logan, you said that there weren't gonna be any more lies and that we were gonna stick to the truth from then on," Alec asked questioningly. When he received a small nod from Max, he continued, "Well, I think we've been lying to each other, to ourselves. We've have to figure out where we go from here."

"I already told you I don't know what's next," replied Max.

"I think you do," Alec said more firmly.

"What do you want me to do Alec? Pull a magic 8 ball out of my bra and tell you my future? What do you want from me?" Max said.

"I don't know. Can we start with the truth? It's the least you could do," Alec ventured. After contemplating Alec's proposal, Max gave a reluctant "Sure."

"Ok… ok," Alec said, slowly nodding his head, pleased that they were finally getting somewhere.

Just then Dix called over to the couple,

"Hey, guys. Marina's on the phone asking for you Alec. Says she wants to see you in the apartment. She made it sound really important."

Alec faced at Max with a pathetic look on his face. Max's only response was a look of contempt.

"I'm sorry, Max. Can we continue this really soon?" Alec said sheepishly. Max just nodded, a stone cold face hiding her emotions.

"Oh, Max. Marina asked for you too," Dix added as an afterthought.

"What?" Max muttered to herself.

"Come on," Alec said, and both X5s made their way to the stairwell.

******

After having her plans for a night of fun with Jake dashed, Marina decided that she should talk to Alec as soon as possible. Now she was pacing the room, waiting for he and Max to arrive. Thanks God Dix had been able to find them so easily, otherwise Marina would probably ended up tearing out her hair she was so strung. So many questions were swarming through her head, too many to make any sense of.

Marina was brought back to earth by the sound of the door opening, and two people coming in. She turned to look at them, her face completely blank, her mouth slightly open.

"What's wrong Ina? Is it something with Jake?" Alec asked, worry evident in his voice. He had never seen Marina speechless. Marina just shook her head in response.

"You wanted to see us, right?" Max said, trying to get Marina to talk.

"Yeah… sit down," she finally said. Alec moved to sit down on the couch, but Max stayed standing close to the door behind a chair.

"I'll just stand," she said.

"You might wanna sit for this," Marina advised.

"I'm fine standing," Max said, just to be belligerent. She had accepted that Marina was not a threat to her, but she was still wary of the girl.

"You sure?" Marina pressed on.

"I said I would stand," Max replied, her tone unkind.

"Oh, cause sitting might be more comfor -"

"Max, just sit!" Alec commanded impatiently. "And Ina, get on with it!" The two women slumped defeated into their respective seats and Marina began.

"Yeah, so I've been looking at my Manticore file over the past couple weeks, discovering what they really though of me." She paused, looking at her hands, and then continued, "You know the phrase 'Curiosity killed the cat', right? Well, it's true."

"What did you find out?" Alec asked, concerned that Marina had unearthed a particularly dismal aspect of a past mission. After a tension filled moment, Marina continued.

"I found out I'm not an orphan."

"Who are your parents?" Max spoke up.

"I'm looking at 'em," Marina said. After having registered Marina's comment and realizing that it wasn't a sick joke, he sat dumbfounded, staring at the wall facing him. An equally rattled Max uttered two words,

"Oh God."

"My words exactly," Marina said before the trio fell into a tense silence.

******

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Did I surprise you, or did ya see it coming all along?

Review and I'll love ya… well maybe not, but I can guarantee write more!


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